


solstice & equinox

by eternities (incendiarism)



Series: free falling [1]
Category: NCT (Band)
Genre: 00 line as the four seasons, Ambiguous Relationships, M/M, Multi, donghyuck as summer, jaemin as autumn, jeno as spring, renjun as winter
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-26
Updated: 2019-08-26
Packaged: 2020-09-26 23:03:38
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,384
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20397604
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/incendiarism/pseuds/eternities
Summary: Jeno comes along and coaxes life from the clutches of Renjun’s frozen fingers. Pecks Renjun on the cheek and bids him goodbye with childlike innocence, as if he isn’t the one sending Renjun into exile, as if he isn’t the one banishing him in the first place. And Renjun, supposedly stone-cold Renjun, is powerless to do anything but accept.





	solstice & equinox

**Author's Note:**

> kinda just self indulgent ramblings about what the 00-line would be like as the four seasons don't mind me

It starts and ends with Renjun. He is the first, both in age and in the year, silently covering the ground with frost and the trees with icicles. He presides over the frozen, dead landscape with the unmistakable grace of Winter, of the ice king. The wind is harsh and becomes daggers when it meets skin, the snow is deceptively pretty but turns into a blizzard in the blink of an eye, and the ice spreads until everything is caught in its reach.

A cold sort of satisfaction rests in Renjun’s eyes as he watches the land around him turn shades of white and gray, wiping away all traces of any previous colors. Watches as the life made by Spring, the added intensity from Summer, and the vibrancy of Autumn are all silenced as he drums his fingers on the armrest of his ice throne. There is no mercy to be shown to anyone—mercy would be an act of partiality, and Renjun doesn’t do partiality. Renjun was not made for bias, for acquiescing to anyone. 

(Well, almost anyone. We’ll get there.)

Winter marches on with tunnel vision, unrelenting in his duty, fulfilling his role with flawless execution. His long strides are paired to strikes with paralyzing accuracy—Renjun did not come here to play. Freezing spells flick from the tips of his bony hands in December, frigid airs tumble from the puffs of his breath in January, and cold fronts trail after his soft footsteps in February.

But although he begins March the same way, it will not last.

For Jeno comes along at the end of March, shiny crescent eyes curved into a permanent smile and rippling laugh that echoes in halls. Jeno comes along and coaxes life from the clutches of Renjun’s frozen fingers. Pecks Renjun on the cheek and bids him goodbye with childlike innocence, as if he isn’t the one sending Renjun into exile, as if he isn’t the one banishing him in the first place. And Renjun, supposedly stone-cold Renjun, is powerless to do anything but accept.

(Mercy.)

Spring is full of mercy. The benevolent ruler, the one who would do away with famine and war alike. Spring is naive, Spring is bright and cheerful as he dances in the wake of Winter’s pseudo-death. The frozen earth is filled with the soft warmth that emanates from Jeno’s being as he breathes life back into the plants that were once blanketed in white and sends out his cheerful wake-up call. Jeno’s presence means new beginnings, new hope. If Renjun is the beginning of everything else, Jeno is the birth of life.

Jeno enraptures any onlookers when he’s in his element. A boy made from the same sort of cool relief as forgiveness, a boy who reassures everyone with whispers that it’s okay after Winter has been vanquished. Spring lives intoxicated on endless possibilities, as playful as he is powerful. He walks as if every day is his first day alive, filled with miracles around every twist and bend, and his drunken joy seeps into the world and blooms with the same radiance. Spring is given a clean slate to start from, and he chooses to fill it with soft greens and bubbling yellows and pastel blues.

Light strides following the sweet breeze, spontaneous giggles matching the babble of the stream, sunlight glinting off the gold sitting on the king’s head. This is where we rejoice, where we enjoy whimsical days and calm nights—and Spring holds an open invitation for anyone to join, to attend the court ball with its elegant gowns and gliding steps set in the palace ballroom.

And after Spring has waltzed with the crown that he plucked from Winter’s grasp, he happily delivers it straight into the burning arms of Summer. And Summer eagerly accepts all that Spring has, accepts the drugs and daydreams that are so willingly offered up. Strips Spring of its skin and flesh and power, greedy for light.

(Jeno gives, Donghyuck takes. This is how their relationship goes every year.)

Summer. Sunkissed Donghyuck. Who takes Jeno’s soft warmth and provokes it until it becomes a scorching fire. Who strikes a match and holds it, stares at it for a while, only to drop it with a smile and set the world ablaze. Volatile Summer, with his simple, lazy days and lethal heat waves clashing with the brilliance that is the trademark of the season. Crown sitting pretty atop his head, lips curled around a burst of laughter or a wrecked sob, fingers locked onto anything he can get his hands on, knuckles turning white—Jeno may go through life like it’s his first day alive, but Donghyuck lives every moment as if it’s his last.

Once Summer is set on anything, maniacal intensity settles in his veins. Renjun shows no bias, but Donghyuck revels in it—bestows sunny days and perfect weather for those he favors and summons thunderstorms that lead to devastating fires for those who are not so lucky. Summer is driven, Summer is prone to holding grudges, and Summer is best when one is on his good side, because Summer is hellbent on everything with no reservations about anything.

The passionate but tyrannical king, who would do anything to keep his throne. Prideful to a fault, but could you blame him if you were to see the empire he builds? Bold silhouettes, sinful lovers and lusters, and once in a lifetime flings alike, they all take refuge here in the protection that Donghyuck drapes across those who obey him without hesitation.

But Summer’s reign cannot last forever, and eventually he runs out of time for real. Autumn sees to it of course. They meet, and they fight—Autumn’s calloused hands paint bruises onto Summer’s hips and hold his wrists in a vise-like grip; they trace across his collarbones ever so gently before reaching for his neck to snuff his flames out. Summer clings onto the last shards of everything he has and Autumn wrestles him for control.

Autumn wins.

Jaemin, the youngest but also the closest to death. The last to be made, arriving just in time for the grand finale. Wrenches the crown from Donghyuck with an empty apology, pries away the life that he and Jeno hold so dearly and taints it—promises it a slow, painful demise and makes good on his word. After all, Autumn is the dying season costumed in horrible extravagance, in which the leaves find it in themselves for one last burst of color before falling victim to the advances of Fall.

(How fitting that the season with two names is also the most two-faced.)

Jaemin grins, blinding rows of perfect, straight white teeth, and puts on a good show—sets the stage for the closing act. Dramatic as always, he dresses the earth in crimsons and ambers, copper on both the trees and on the tip of life’s tongue. Poison drips from Autumn’s sharp features as he speaks, ruining all that Spring had worked for. Summer’s fire is smothered, reduced to embers under the crushing weight of Jaemin’s heel. Yes, Autumn is absolutely gorgeous, but only to hide the twisted true nature of what he does.

And it works well, for we are blinded by the masquerade, by the fanfare and flourishes, and we can’t turn our eyes away until it’s too late. Jaemin is a manipulative, puppetmaster of a ruler: the beloved one who has betrayed the kingdom, the corrupt one who only wants his bread and circuses. Lavish, pretty things—Autumn consumes them all in feverish gluttony until there is nothing left, and then he abdicates the throne to abandon the aftermath of his destruction.

Autumn steals the show from Summer and runs with it. And after the final bows have been made and the curtain has fallen, he returns to Renjun and lets himself be devoured. Takes the life that he’d ripped from the world and uses it to revive Winter in exchange for momentary satisfaction—for Winter is only partial to the one that feeds him and the one that kills him. Renjun lets himself be taken care of by Jaemin—presses his gratitude into Jaemin’s venomous mouth, and then Renjun comes back once more to rule.

Once more, it all starts and ends with Renjun.

**Author's Note:**

> i wrote this instead of working on my wip whoops anyways  
\- hopefully no bias is shown here--i tried my best to give each season/boy equal attention  
\- of course there is so much more to their characters than what is shown here (i.e. renjun really isn't just cold) however this is just what i felt like fit the theme best  
\- i'm not sure if anyone will actually see this haha, but if you do then feel free to leave any thoughts/feedback in the comments or at the [twitter account](https://twitter.com/nanodarlings) i just made less than a week ago (spoiler alert i have no clue how twitter works)  
\- i also have no clue what to rate this so if you have an idea please yell at me about it  
\- if you did read this, thank you!! i'm slowly trying to ease myself back into fiction after only writing academic papers for so so long T_T please bear with me


End file.
